


firelight; bones made still

by zimmerbittle (punkrockinchairs)



Series: song inspo fics [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, rated T for drug & alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 12:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5004427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockinchairs/pseuds/zimmerbittle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The grass is a blanket beneath them and the sky is filled with stars and the universe is infinitely small, compressed down to this microscopic instant of Eric sitting with his team (friends, family) by a bonfire, and he is so, so happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	firelight; bones made still

**Author's Note:**

> ([recommended listening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ecsAd-NMY))

The grass is a blanket beneath them and the sky is filled with stars and the universe is infinitely small, compressed down to this microscopic instant of Eric sitting with his team (friends, family) by a bonfire, and he is so, so happy.

 

Shitty is hollering off to his right with a forty in one hand and his pants in the other and Ransom is laughing at him. Holster and Wicks are throwing more logs into the fire and Ollie is watching, ballcap on backwards, body half-lit and full of life. Shaney is with Jack, seated on a log across the fire, talking to Faulksy and—Eric thinks that’s Raker with them; and they each have three PBRs for some reason Eric doesn’t fully understand. And Lardo is packing a bowl, seated on Eric’s left side, Nursey past her waiting his turn, and Lardo’s hair is tumbling down the left side of her face and cupping the firelight. The other frogs are back at the truck where the speaker system is set up and—and there’s Jack, behind his camera, capturing every second.

Eric sees the lens turn his way. Gives a small smile.

–

The smell of pot permeates the field and pretty much everyone has taken a couple hits—even Jack—and Eric is loose-limbed and limned, backlight, in soft firelight and Jack takes a picture and can barely breathe for how much this all means to him.

 

They’ve moved. Eric is standing by the fire with Wicky and Shane and he’s laughing. Ransom and Holster have gotten to a point where they’re doing a dual Edward Fortyhands with their other hands taped together and they’re—singing something? Nursey is teaching Dex and Gonzo how to properly take a hit and Jack has to chuckle at the look of sheer concentration on Dex’s face.

He takes a picture.

–

Raker is from Ohio, which apparently means he knows innately how to catch fireflies in empty vodka bottles. Lardo is lying on the ground, back to the fire, watching them twinkle.

Jack catches the reflection of their light in her eyes, or tries to. Reframes and tries again. She smiles up at him, past him, grins wide at Eric by his side and motions for them to join her.

Jack doesn’t. Eric does.

Shitty comes to stand next to Jack. Shaney, somewhere behind them, says, “It’s kinda cool, man, how there’s, like, fuckin mini universes in their eyes.”

Eric and Lardo giggle at one another.

–

There’s a pond nearby, and that’s where Eric finds Jack after another beer and a couple hours. He _fwmps_ down beside the older boy. Looks up into the sky with him.

Says, _They’re beautiful._

Jack refuses to be a cliché, doesn’t look down at Eric when he says, _Yeah, really beautiful._

He looks down right after though; finds Eric already looking at him.

_There’s starlight caught in your eyes,_ Eric says.

Jack blinks. _Is it gone?_

_No, there’s still a bit just… there,_ Eric says. Reaches up as he says it. Brushes a thumb across Jack’s cheekbone, just under his left eye.

–

They’re driving back into town and Lardo has taken control of the music, plays stuff she says feels “connected to the universe”; stuff she listens to when she paints her feelings.

Raker is their DD. He brings his friends in the vodka bottle along, puts them on the dashboard and drives carefully.

Most of the team is in the back of the trunk, including Eric and Jack. Shaney is nodding his head to the beat, hand trailing through the wake, pretending to touch the stars.

Lardo cranks up the music and Eric stands abruptly, twirls a little, laughs with tears in his eyes and lets himself _feel_.

He grins down at Jack and relishes in being alive.

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes u just gotta let urself _feel_ things, u kno? idk this song just came on and i was like “oh i guess i’m writing to this now” lmao
> 
> Faulksy & Gonzo borrowed from Lexie’s “[Odd Man Rush](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2839085)”


End file.
